How to Turn Your Child Into a Lifelong Learner

Monday - December 29, 2014

Lifelong learners are passionate about learning new ideas and improving themselves on a regular basis.

It can be hard to motivate your child to get excited about learning. To many children, activities like reading and solving math problems are merely chores, to be done with and cast aside as soon as the minimum amount is completed. School is seen as nothing more than a mandatory sentence, where learning is a requirement, not an opportunity.

Changing that negative attitude into one that appreciates the value of learning new information is challenging, but always worthwhile. Inspiring not just the inclination to learn—but the excitement and pure desire to learn—can foster a healthy pace of learning for years to come. Lifelong learners are always looking for opportunities to improve themselves, and tend to perform better in high school, in college, and even in their careers.

There are three easy ways you can help your child become a lifelong learner:

1.Allow and Accept Failure. Many schoolchildren hate school because they are afraid to fail. Learning is simply a numbers game, where grades are the only thing that matters. Allow your child to fail in small environments—even if it’s just losing a game—and let them know that it’s okay to fail as long as you learn something from the experience.

2.Encourage Learning in Real Environments. Get outside the world of textbooks and paper-based equations. Start telling your child about the world around them, and apply problem solving and critical thinking skills to real-life scenarios. It’s much more interesting, and will encourage your child to think critically in real situations, and learn new information wherever they go.

3.Ask Questions. One of the greatest keys in inspiring a lifelong learner is to encourage them to think constantly. And the best way to do that is to ask lots of questions. Ask questions as much as you can—about anything—to encourage your child to think carefully about his/her environment and potential opportunities to learn new things.